Newsletter

In the December 2023 Newsletter:

New Facility For Capilla Calvario Santa Fe & Touch Baja
Touch Baja Ministries Brief: Short-Term Missions
Worship Conference At Carmen Serdan
Meet The Staff: Shorili Contreras
End Of Year Giving Opportunities
Praises & Prayer Requests

New Facility for Capilla Calvario Santa Fe & Touch Baja

(Written by: Pastor Ron Brink)

For many years it has been the same repeat story in our newsletters when discussing our Santa Fe church – Capilla Calvario Santa Fe has outgrown the facilities it meets in and we need to find a larger place for the church and the school run there, so please pray. Then, in a follow up newsletter, we were able to inform you of how the Lord had provided a larger facility, all praise to Him. Yet, each time, we found ourselves once again having to request prayer for a larger place because they had again outgrown their facility, followed by a praise report that God had met the need. As many of you know, we have gone through this cycle many times. However, it became a serious problem a year ago when the rent was doubled for the facility they meet in presently and the church expanded to the maximum size possible in that location. Making it even more of a critical issue, we were unable to identify any commercial space available to move to that would meet the church’s needs other than a mall which would be unbelievably expensive. This led us again to come to you all and ask for prayer, but this time we were more specific in the need – we were beseeching the Lord to provide a permanent home.

As we sought the Lord to intercede and provide, a property came up for sale that had been built as a school for nuns. This two and a half acre property had a very large sanctuary connected to a school facility capable of serving hundreds of students along with two other massive buildings and a large open area. We prayed and signed a one year lease to hold the property to give the Lord time to provide if it was His will for us to purchase this incredible property, and waited on Him while trying to not be anxious about what would happen at the end of the year. As we waited and prayed, it looked to us like the Lord was saying no. We also gave up the search for any other suitable property since they were all too expensive – one acre of basically undeveloped property cost more than a million dollars! We realized that even if we could somehow purchase property we would not have the money to build.

Unbeknownst to us God was moving behind the scenes. About six months into the lease, a call came in from a single donor who desired to supply the finances needed to purchase the facility along with some additional funds to make needed improvements. Spin forward to today, all the details and hurdles have been worked through and the property has been purchased, Capilla Calvario Santa Fe has moved into the unfinished buildings, and are working very hard to finish the buildings before the big rains arrive. On top of that, we were blessed that the owner of the property CC Santa Fe was previously renting allowed us to get out of the lease with no fines or additional payments.

The facility and buildings will allow the church to grow for years to come and for the school to grow as big as they desire. It will also provide Touch Baja space for many ministry opportunities, such as the work we do with the families with children undergoing cancer treatments as well as many of our other ongoing ministries. We are excited about all the ways we will be able to use this facility to fulfill our mission to evangelize and disciple the nations.  <top>

Worship Conference At Carmen Serdan

(Written by: Staff)

As we have shared before, we have been developing a property in Carmen Serdan and building a facility that will be our Discipleship Home. This home is being developed as a live-in school for the boys from rehab centers and others that want to grow in their faith. While this is the primary purpose of this facility, land and buildings are expensive to purchase and/or build and, as is the case for so many churches, they tend to be under-utilized. With the ministry mindset of maximizing the use of our properties, Touch Baja designed the Discipleship Home to not only accomplish it’s primary goal of discipling youth but also to be used to host events. We always strive keep an eye on stewarding well what the Lord blesses us with.

Along those lines, we recently were blessed to host our first conference on the Discipleship Home property – a Worship Conference for worship leaders and teams. David Medina, worship leader at Fervent Church in Las Vegas, Nevada, along with Elvia Medina and her husband, Manny Reyes, pastor of the Spanish speaking service, from Fervent, and Enrique Medina, pastor of Nuevo Principios in Bellflower, California, were the conference speakers. The Medinas, a worship group that ministers in Mexico and the U.S., were an incredible blessing to all those that were involved. The conference attendees were reminded that the worship team of a church is tasked with helping lead the congregation into the presence of the Lord in praise and adoration. Realizing the incredible responsibility of this role, they were exhorted in how it should not be taken lightly and requires each worship team member to have a growing relationship with the Lord. To a person, the participants shared how they grew in their relationship with the Lord and their understanding of how to fulfill their ministry during the conference. During the Worship Conference, we also hosted two groups that were doing construction on the facility. What a blessing to see all the Lord is accomplishing on the property in Carmen Serdan and seeing Him use it to bear fruit to His glory.  <top>

Meet The Staff: Shorili Conteras

(Written by: Pastor Ron Brink)

Shori and his family live at our facility in Carmen Serdan where we are developing the Discipleship Home. Prior to moving to Carmen Serdan, he had been a part of the Xochimilco church for fourteen years, which he started attending with his parents and brothers. It would be a very long journey before he would become a disciple of Jesus due to having a very difficult childhood, evidenced by one of the many conversations he had with Pastor Ron. As Pastor Ron recounts the details of that conversation, he was talking with Shori about an old roller rink that used to be near the church, believing that Shori was sharing a happy memory much like he had of skating as a child. It became clear as the conversation continued, though, that Shori had never been inside the rink. His memories of that rink was how he would “dumpster dive” the trash recepticals behind the rink to find discarded pizza. They would grab a pizza box and fill it with whole slices of pizza that had been thrown away until they fashioned a whole pizza, then they would go home and eat it like they had bought a pizza. This upbringing resulted in feelings of being “trapped” in a life with no way to break free. In fact, the first time Ron asked Shori to go to Carmen Serdan to work for a weekend, which would mean overnighting at the facility, he didn’t take anything to stay the night because he thought it was a joke. He had never spent a night away from home.

But God started to work in and on Shori. In attending Capilla Calvario Xochimilco, he was introduced to new ideas and ways of thinking and he began to put those ideas into practice. For instance, learning such truths as our responsibility to work and earn a living to help others led him to get a job. Yet, like many who attend church, he took those truths that were useful but ignored those that he didn’t like, so foundational truths like surrendering our will to God weren’t embraced. This led to him making many major mistakes along the way to salvation but God was unrelenting in His pursuit and, finally, Shori made the decision to follow Jesus. Soon after, he started working at the church cleaning and doing maintenance.

One day he went to work at the church and left his wife, Karina, and two young daughters in bed. His brother, trying to escape two individuals that wanted to kill him, entered the home and was followed by the gunmen. When it was over, his brother had been shot three time and the home had thirty bullet holes in it. His brother survived and his wife and children were unharmed physically but that left Shori and his family shaken. That same day, we moved the family on to the Xochimilco church property. A week later, his wife’s family came to take her away leading Karina to decide she could no longer live in Tijuana. This is how God, who works all things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose, orchestrated Shori and his family’s move to Carmen Serdan. They have been living and working there for over a year now. Shori takes care of the facilities, does construction, helps with groups, and oversees and takes care of the youth that live on the property. Karina cooks, cleans and keeps Shori in line. His two teenage twin sons also serve and help out as needed, and his two young daughters are just as cute as can be and love when groups come, often crying when the groups leave. The family attends a small community church and the pastor of that church often uses Shori in ministry. Among the many gifts that are evident in Shori and each of the family members, hospitality runs through the veins of them all, making them a perfect fit for the ministry the Lord has given them in Carmen Serdan.  <top>

Praises

• Donna’s foot continues to heal and she can now do everything she could do before for the most part. She still has pain which should slowly continue to get better.
• The Lord continues to open doors for us to assist churches with discipleship in Southern Mexico. It started in Oaxaca and continues to grow there. A church covered all the costs for a conference in Mexico City and we have a request to assist a church in Michoacan.
• The new church building for Capilla Calvario Santa Fe was unfinished when they moved in and they were in a race with the weather to close up the building before the rains came. Water would have been able to enter through the unsealed cement roof and the massive windows but the Lord provided in incredible unforseen ways and, now, the rain stays where it belongs – outside.  <top>

Prayer Requests

• We had a pickup stolen which is a very big loss for us. It was used to move materials to and from our different ministry locations and to move people. Please pray that we will get it back or that we will be able to replace it.
• Our ministry to Morocco has been on hold since the pandemic. Please pray that we would be able get moving again.
• Donna’s foot continues to heal please pray for her complete recovery.
• Shori’s wife needs surgery please pray that she will be able to get it scheduled and for the cost.
• Balancing ministry and family time is always difficult. Please pray that the Lord would give our staff wisdom in this area and to strengthen our families. <top>